Printing control apparatus and printing control method

Abstract

A printing control apparatus configured to use a recording head where a plurality of nozzles are arranged in a row formation to discharge ink droplets from each of the nozzles by individually supplying predetermined driving power with regard to actuators, and configured to discharge the ink droplets with different discharge speeds so that subsequent ink droplets catch up with and combine together with prior ink droplets that are continuously discharged before the prior ink droplets land on a printing medium. The printing control apparatus includes a control section configured to drive the actuators in the recording head so that dots that are in a region where a nozzle usage rate is higher than a predetermined threshold are printed due to ink droplets, where ink droplets that are continuously discharged combine together in air, attaching to the printing medium.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A printing control apparatus configured to use a recording head where a plurality of nozzles that respectively link with predetermined ink paths are arranged in a row formation to discharge ink droplets from each of the nozzles by individually supplying predetermined driving power with regard to actuators that are respectively arranged in the ink paths, and configured to discharge the ink droplets with different discharge speeds so that subsequent ink droplets catch up with and combine together with prior ink droplets that are continuously discharged before the prior ink droplets land on a printing medium, the printing control apparatus comprising:
 a control section configured to drive the actuators in the recording head so that dots that are in a region where a nozzle usage rate is higher than a predetermined threshold are printed due to ink droplets, where ink droplets that are continuously discharged combine together in air, attaching to the printing medium, 
 the control section including a nozzle usage rate acquiring section that is configured to acquire a usage rate for a plurality of nozzles that are arranged in a row formation in each predetermined region per unit of time as the nozzle usage rate. 
 
     
     
       2. The printing control apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the control section is configured to discharge the subsequent ink droplets so as to combine together with the prior ink droplets with regard to the dots that are in the region where the nozzle usage rate is higher than the predetermined threshold, and is configured to discharge the subsequent ink droplets and the prior ink droplets with regard to the printing medium so as to land to line up in a movement direction of the recording head at substantially the same time with regard to dots that are in a region where the nozzle usage rate is the predetermined threshold or less. 
 
     
     
       3. The printing control apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the control section includes
 a driving circuit that is configured to supply driving power with a plurality of waveforms that are respectively supplied with regard to the actuators, and 
 
 the control section being further configured to switch waveforms of the driving power that are supplied based on the nozzle usage rate that is acquired by the nozzle usage rate acquiring section. 
 
     
     
       4. The printing control apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the control section is configured to estimate the region where the nozzle usage rate is higher than the predetermined threshold based on printing data, and is configured to perform dot allocation processing that creates large dots that are created by combining together the prior ink droplets and the subsequent ink droplets that are continuously discharged at the region. 
 
     
     
       5. The printing control apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the control section is configured to modify a threshold for whether or not to combine together the prior ink droplets and the subsequent ink droplets that are continuously discharged according to a distance between the recording head and the printing medium. 
 
     
     
       6. The printing control apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the control section is configured to modify a threshold for whether or not to combine together the prior ink droplets and the subsequent ink droplets that are continuously discharged according to a parameter that represents difficulty of bleeding in the printing medium. 
 
     
     
       7. The printing control apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the control section is configured to print using single dots in a region where the nozzle usage rate is the predetermined threshold or less based on the nozzle usage rate. 
 
     
     
       8. A printing control method for using a recording head where a plurality of nozzles that respectively link with predetermined ink paths are arranged in a row formation to discharge ink droplets from each of the nozzles by individually supplying predetermined driving power with regard to actuators that are respectively arranged in the ink paths, and for discharging the ink droplets with different discharge speeds so that subsequent ink droplets catch up with and combine together with prior ink droplets that are continuously discharged before the prior ink droplets land on a printing medium, the printing control method comprising:
 driving the actuators in the recording head so that dots that are in a region where a nozzle usage rate is higher than a predetermined threshold are printed due to ink droplets, where ink droplets that are continuously discharged combine together in air, attaching to the printing medium, 
 the nozzle usage rate being a usage rate for a plurality of nozzles that are arranged in a row formation in each predetermined region per unit of time.